Convoy M21B, M21E, M21F w/ GT-FC40 4500k: 3 CRI-95 324m throwers w/ Nichia-like tint -->3 home runs. Rec w/out reservation :-).

LED Flashlights – General Info 21700 Flashlights
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(Repost of summary from later discussion in case you missed it.)

A summary from my experience with the 3 lights.

M21B
Beam: Has brightest and most useful spill of the 3 lights, but less throwy. Probably as a result of the smaller thermal mass and less effective cooling, from a Turbo start I’ve found this light steps down sooner than M21F and E. Throw measured to be 280 m by Axios. Hotspot initially slightly dimmer than M21F, but once thermal regulation step-downs have set in, brightness is very similar to M21F. Overall this light is close to the M21F.
Construction & cosmetic:
No onboard USB-C charging. If you want a Convoy GT-FC with rear switch, at this point this and the smaller S11 (thanks @undefined for the correction) are the two choices.
It’s a very good looking light. Smallest of the 3 lights and pocketable. Knurling is not as deep as Emisar for example, but at $30, I am NOT complaining about anything.
I would highly recommend to change rear switch to metal switch from Convoy as it makes the light very pretty and more importantly, makes the click (full press) and tap (half press) much easier, for me anyway.
UI: The well known Convoy 12 Groups. I prefer Anduril but whether 12 Groups is a plus or minus is of course personal preference.
No Anduril means you cannot play with settings such as thermal regulation’s max T (factory setting is 55 C per Simon). Judging by the result (similar step-downs to other lights I have), maybe there is no need.

M21F
Beam: As these GT-FC Convoys get larger, spill becomes dimmer and hotspot becomes brighter. The M21F has a slightly brighter hotspot than M21B. Overall this is a similar light to M21B.
Construction & cosmetic:
Among first Convoy lights with onboard USB-C charging. A very good looking light. Top end is not anodized and not smooth to turn the first few times but now is better.
The side-switch: it “clicks” very nicely, but is hard to press, so not my favorite. My firsts 21F’s switch has a dead zone and needs to be clicked at dead center, which is not always possible. Simon immediately sent a second light without charge and its switch is good.
The side switch is also in same position as the charging port, so I would definitely recommend screw-on or clip-on Convoy clip for example at minus 90 degrees from the switch to locate it quickly.
UI: Still no Anduril, just Convoy UI for Side-Switch lights. Personally I like this UI and prefer it to the 12 Groups.

M21E
Beam: Brightest hotspot, best throw, and dimmest spill of the 3 light, but the spill is still bright and functional. Meaning the beam is balanced and like the other 2 Convoy’s makes for great all around multi-function, multi-use EDC light. Larger light has more thermal mass and better cooling, and this means for example step-downs in this light occur a couple minutes later than M21B and F.
Construction & cosmetic: I am not too thrilled with those diagonal grooves at the head of the light but otherwise it looks good. This size fits more easily in jacket pocket, unless you have loose pants with side pocket (not jeans’ front pocket). I do carry it in side pocket of my pants.
The side switch is same as M21F: Beautiful but short travel and hard to press. This means single click is easy, but multiple clicks are not. OTOH the good thing about this is it protects against accidental activation of the light, which is not a good thing in this high-power light.
UI: Same as M21F, UI for Convoy Side-Switch lights.

IMHO the combination of smallish size and USB-C charging makes the M21F sort of the sweet spot of the 3. OTOH because it is so rare to find a bright throwy light with world class CRI and no green tint, I like the M21E best. Its disadvantage is that it is also biggest and heaviest, and that large top is unwieldy. Lastly, if you like floody light and tail switch, and don’t mind the lack of on-board USB-C charging, then M21B is the one. One of these GT-FC40 4500k plus a Convoy S21D with 219b 4500k would make an incredibly inexpensive and fantastic start/back bone for any light collection with accurate color rendition in mind. You can’t buy anything better even if you want to spend more money IMHO.

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Thanks. Does the metal switch fit in other Convoys such as S21D? Is it easy to install, no soldering needed?

Is there anything you don’t like the metal switch that made you also order rubber switch?

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Yes, I have put on a Metal Lighted Switch on my S21D and works fine.

It’s almost a plug and play thing. But you need a least a tweezer or a long nose plier for the job…

I like both Metal and Rubber lighted switch… To your question, aesthetic aside, Rubber Switch can Tail Stand but not the Metal Switch…

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Btw, the M21B could be ordered with Littokala 5000 mAh battery. I’ve compared this with Samsung 40T, an un-protected cell with high current capacity, and noticed no difference in brightness. The Littokala of course has more capacity than 40T (4000 mAh) and measured well with my Opus.
M21E and M21F of course doesn’t need battery charger since they have on board USB-C charging.

Samsung 40T 21700 Flat Top Battery for Convoy: Samsung 40T 21700 4000mAh 35A Battery - INR21700-40T

Opus BT C3100 v2.2 charger from legit AliExpress store: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002811401255.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.21ef1802jnkJ39 Opus BT C3100 from AliExpress is about half the cost of same thing on Amazon. The seller I quoted is legit and the thing came in around 10-12 days IIRC. AFAIK Opus is one of the few chargers that could test internal resistance and capacity accurately and highly recommended.

XTAR MC2 charger much less expensive XTAR MC2 2 Bay USB Battery Charger - Portable Micro USB Charging

Opus BT C3100

XTAR MC2

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As mentioned above Convoy has released other hosts for this LED, most notably now with on board USB-C and very likely different beam patterns. I have two of the new hosts, M21E and M21F, on order and probably will merge it with this thread to compare beam shots (throw, spill, beam angle, etc.). You might want to consider these two, or wait a couple weeks to see what I find. GT-FC “eats” battery especially used at 100% brightness so on-board USB-C is a welcoming change.

LED wise, I’m reconfirming that this GT-FC LED is the greatest Nichia imitator :) that I have in my collection. It is NOT exactly Nichia (GT-FC has more positive Duv, less magenta, more magenta-brown), but color rendering in real life use is very similar. Ra and R9 numbers are top notch. All this making M21B and likely the other 2 M21’s an all-around multi-use EDC with THE best tint on market now IMHO. “Arrived at departure transport hub” I can’t wait to get my hands on the E and F versions LOL.

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In my living room, against the wall of truth :innocent: . While GT-FC40 is NOT 219b (IMHO more brownish magenta for FC40, versus true magenta of 219b), the overall picture partly explains why I had some difficulty telling them apart with the garden shots in my front courtyard.

In fact when it comes to imitating 219b, one could almost say GT-FC40 out-Nichia another Nichia lol, the 519a with its warm yellow tint.

Pleas ignore the note about hotspot vs spill color rendering for the moment (something noted in throwy lights with bright hotspot, where you see 2 color zones as a result). That’s topic for another discussion :slight_smile: .

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IMO, the 519A and GT-FC40 look the best overall, as the 219B looks too rosy, and the SST-20 is more throwy than the others.

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Below are close-up crops of the above picture. My son’s USC red cap against the very slight off white window blind. GT-FC40 renders the off white color IMHO best, very close to 219b 4500k which tints the blind a little grey-magenta’ish. Red cap is also rendered very well - extremely close to the color in real life. R9 (strong red) is very hard to achieve, anything above 50 is considered good, and GT-FC40 with R9=76 is approaching top class rating R9080.

Pictures are starting to emerge pun intended that this GT-FC40 is for real when it comes to color rendering. :slight_smile: The shots duplicate what I observe in real life.

These living room pictures are from a few days ago. Yesterday I took pictures of neon pink and yellow flowers, plants, and trees in the front yard, in the dark of night (this hobby - I’m sure neighbors are like WT* lol). Very interesting result again showing the fantastic ability of Nichia 219b to render flora and fauna, with GT-FC40 awefully close to matching it. Will post that next.

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For a frame of reference, I will first compare Nichia 219b and 519a.

It’s interesting to note that without a lightly colored background such as my living room’s light beige wall (versus dark green background of this picture), the magenta tint of 219b is not as easily noticeable. In addition, differences between LED are more subtle. The easiest way for me to tell which LED is which is the flat grey surface of the palm tree. Here the more yellow tint of 519a is more obvious.

Looking at the hot pink geranium flowers, 219b somehow just seems to make the flowers stand out more from the leaves. More depth and 3D, color differences more distinctive - just my subjective opinion so if you don’t see it, I won’t argue :-). It will be interesting to do a crop comparison.

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I am fairly hard core into photography, and this shoot-out has been very interesting because it confirms this observation I have about 219b in real life viewing: colors seem to “pop” against background, for example blue rosemary flowers against the green leaves.

To my eyes the hot pink geranium is rendered extremely well with 219b. Flowers pop against the green leaves, achieving depth and a 3D effect not seen with 519a, IMHO. The effect is so strong I had to go back and check if my 519a shot is out of focus (it’s not).

Second, the hot pink color itself is rendered with much more accuracy with 219a than 519a, where there is a yellow tint to the flower. This is not a surprise as 219b has about the highest Ra and R9 of any LED’s. The next question is of course, how would GT-FC40 fare against the gold standard 219b?

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I still can’t get over the pink bark.

Also I think the main reason why the pink flowers pop more on the 219B image is because there’s harsher shadows behind them. If you white balance both pictures to the tree bark in lightroom, the differences are in flowers between the two are negligible.

1 Thank
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Same. It’s just too much.

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May I ask what settings you use on your camera for these outdoor shots?

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Sure: All shots have manual white balance 5000k. Shot in RAW with Canon DSLR, processed using Capture 1.

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Thanks, I’ll play around with that. Assuming ISO and Aperture on automagic?

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You’re welcome. Automatic expo and then extremely-fine-adjust :slight_smile: on RAW software so that the exposure doesn’t favor one light or another. It’s a little more tricky when a light has hotspot and hence has different color rendering between spill and hotspot, like most throwy lights, and like the Convoy M21B. As opposed to for example a floody light like the Convoy S21D where the illumination is even. In difficult cases I make an executive decision on how to adjust expo :innocent: . Thankfully with Nichia most lights are floody with a smooth field of illumination so it’s not a big problem.

BTW I have found photography flawless in showing differences between LED’s or showing when two are the same, but always must be combined with real-life viewing to confirm what the eyes actually see. It’s been a very interesting experience.

When I compare brightness, then of course expo is also manual.

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Yes. Especially for gray objects like bark of trees, the Nichia 219b’s magenta tint shows the most and could be a bit much. With other colors, for example green leaves and colorful flowers, it excels, IMHO.

And yes I too sometimes find that magenta too much, especially when I am out there walking and over analyzing everything I see :innocent: . That’s why I think the GT-FC40 will be a winner for many hobbyists. It distinguishes colors and shades almost as good as 219b, but has tint that leans towards warmer magenta-gold-brownish (yes I made that up lol), more natural IMHO.

I think the background of the hat picture above (the off white window blind) explains this much better than my description.

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Palm tree shot with GT-FC40 in Convoy M21B, as usual white balance 5000k.

Note the beam profile - M21B is a throwy light so center is bright and peripheral is dark compared to pictures with the floody S21D Nichia’s.

For shutterbugs: I’ve mentioned it’s a little tricky to shoot a throwy light, because now you have to deal with two beam tints/colors: the hotspot vs the spill, and have to make a decision which part to adjust exposure to. The geranium flowers for this shot are at the edge of the hot spot, so upper middle part is hotspot beam, lower lateral part is the spill. In this case I made executive decision :innocent: to adjust exposure to geranium, so that I could compare the geranium between GT-FC40 and what for me is the gold standard, Nichia 219b.

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Crop comparison of GT-FC40 and 219b.

As mentioned, for GT-FC40’s beam has two parts:

  1. The hotspot is shining on the upper part of the crop (the palm tree) - the light here is a pleasant warm white color. Much warmer than 6500k SST40 in my Nitecore MH12S. It reminds me of a good warm-white household light bulb in its lack of a tint one way or another. If you don’t like the magenta of Nichia or the yellow-green of SST20 4000k, you will embrace this IMHO.
  2. The spill is shining on the lower part. Overall the hot pink is spot on. Tint of leaves right lower quadrant nearly identical. Somewhat oddly, despite of the positive Duv, this LED has minimal green or yellow tint so dreaded in positive Duv LED’s. To my eyes, it is extremely close to Nichia 219b rendering and closer than any other LED in my small collection.

The crop on the right is 219b in Convoy. A very floody light so it’s an even smooth field, as opposed to GT-FC40 getting darker towards the edge.

Photography confirms my experience with real life view. The very first time I turned on M21B with GT-FC40 I thought to myself, goodness this one is a Nichia imitator. :slight_smile:

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GT-FC40 4500k in Convoy M21B compared to Samsung LH351D 4000k in Sofirn SP36 BLF. The Sofirn SP36 is one of my most favorite lights, but unfortunately it does have a green tint that’s quite prominent especially in the spill.

Pics were shot in RAW, camera’s white balance is fixed at 5000k. Exposure matching is never perfect with 2 throwy lights; do you set expo to the hotspot, or the spill, and where in the spill, etc. I set this pair of crops to match exposure at the hot pink geranium as best I could.

For s non-Nichia LED with positive Duv, the GT-FC40 LED is unusual for its lack of a green or yellow tint. IMHO this is likely the reason for its Nichia-like ability to make different shades and colors more distinct - making for example red flowers “pop” against green leaves (what I observe in real life viewing).